Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-05-20
TRACED AT LAST.-THE DAM OF
ETHAN ALLEN.

ETHAN ALLEN.
Editor Register Your gratifying an
nodncement in the last issue of the REG
sTE of the solution of this long-veXed
question As to the origin of the famous
mare has led me to make Il rapid. but
thorough review of all the evidence hith-
erto published concerning her. The re-
suit is Il complete demonstration, as far
as dates and circumstances can demon
strate, of the truth and accuracy of Mr..
Leland's statement. He has shown us
the origin of the dam of Ethan Allen, be-
yond a peradventure.
When Mr.. Thomson. in November last.
published his so-called proof that the
dam of Ethan was the old VIM. II. Bal
com mare, | was too busily employed in
other matters to give his testimony any
examination. and. in fact, till now | have
never done so. 1t is. indeed. far short of
proof, and of no avail at all as far as |
can see except to prove, from the pen of
Ira Potter, that his statement. that this
mare was bred by Rufus Rising from the
John Glazier mare, he knew only by ru-
NOR, hearsay or conjecture, and not of
his w knowledge.
While in charge of the horse depart
ment of the REGISTER, Il year ago, | had
given my own guarded opinion as to
what the evidence then published tended
to show-and that was that the dam of
Ethan ,yos Lrnl NV D,ftc Bi-inn ,rnt hI-
a two-year-old colt of his. and out of the
John Glazier mare. Perhaps | should
not NOW retract that opinion. ON the evil
dence then published. But when it APP
peared later by the letter of Ira Potter
that he knew nothing personally of such
breeding, he being the only positive wit
ness thereto. and one upon whom | great
~ relied because he was in IA situation to
know and had stated all other facts with
perfect accuracy and this with equal pos
itveness-of course the chief foundation
of that opinion was rome. On the whole,
however, the best evidence of the mares
origin then published was the positive
statements of IIoyt johnson and William
G. Baldwin, that Rufus Rising told them
he got her in Vermont.
In this connection | also stated, a year
ago.: at is impossible to shake the date
on which w. ii. Balloon gave the gray
mare to Ira Wallace. 1t was in the fall
of 1S4l." | am confirmed in this point
by a careful review. W. III. Balloon is a
man of nnra thap orlinary inta11inanao
a clear and careful writer. He first gave
the fall of 1912 as the date, but being
pressed to be accurate, he goes over the
whole matter; says he started on his
emigration from Hague to the West, July
ID, 1913; in June of the same year. a
month before he started, he sold his gray
mares last colt, then two years old past
that when this colt, fOaled in the spring of
1871, was six months old, he had given
the old mare to Wallace. This statement
he has often reiterated in the long cores
pondence and has never varied it a hair.
Mr.. Thomson acknowledges it proven
that the dam of Ethan was in Warner
Cooks hands as early AS the fall of 1888:
but he gets over the difficulty in dates by
assuring Mr.. Balloon that his mare was
certainly the dam of Ethan Allen, and
getting him to acknowledge that he
might have had her as early as lS35-this
Balloon barely admits as possible; then
Mr.. Thomson assume that she pro-
duced four foals, 1896, Z, 5 and ., and
that Wallace got her and passed her oven
TO Cook in the fall of the last year. But
Mr.. Balcom, in the very letter from which
these strained conclusions are drawn.
states that the mare produced five foals
for him, "three iron gray ,one dapple gray
with white name and tail, and one bay :"
but Mr.. Thomson, whose opportunity for
knowing was so much better than Mr..
Balcom's, says this is a mistake and that
she really produced but four foals for
Balloon. Mr.. Balcom's statement is. in
substance, that to his best recollection
he got the mare in 1886; that she pro-
duced five foals, i'm 1897, 3, 9, 40 and Al
and that he gave her away in 1871 he
never has expressed a doubt since he first
gave his mind to the matter. | think his
testimony, being practically all there is
on the subject, should overcome proof
from Mr.. ThOmson's inner consciousness.
Moreover, | think it proven that Warner
Cook got the dam of Ethan in the sum
mer or fall of 1888, instead of 1899, as ]
will presently show.